When we are invited to dine with the sultan or with the king or with some VIP (Very Important Person), would we go straight to the food and eat to our hearts content? Surely we would wait until certain protocols and customs have been observed, then only when the time has come to eat, we would begin the meal with decorum, respect and table manners. But when we come for Mass, do we practice the same decorum, respect and table manners?
In today’s reading, St. Paul reminds us of such decorum, protocol and table manners when we come for Mass: “The point is, when you hold these meetings, it is not the Lord’s Supper that you are eating, since when the time comes to eat, everyone is in such a hurry to start his own supper that one person goes hungry while another is getting drunk. Surely you have homes for eating and drinking in? Surely you have enough respect for the community of God not to make poor people embarrassed?… So to sum up, my dear brothers, when you meet for the Meal, wait for one another.”
What St. Paul reminds us in the reading is still relevant even today. When we come for Mass to the Table of the Lord, we are coming for a banquet with the Lord. Just as we would observe the proper decorum, respect and table manners when we dine with so-called important persons on earth, may we remember who we are dining with when we come for Mass, and observe the proper decorum, respect and table manners such as fasting an hour before Holy Communion, going for confession, and ensuring that our children do not eat during Mass, just to name a few.
